Sacred Books of the East Vol. 40 - Taoism Vol. 2

8. As Kwang Kâu was rambling in the park of Tiâo-ling {fr. 4} he saw a strange bird which came from the south. Its wings were seven cubits in width, and {fn. 1. What is said here about the swallow is quite obscure. Hsî-kung says that all the old attempts to explain it are ridiculous, and then propounds an ingenious one of his own; but I will leave the passage with my reader to deal with it as he best can.} {fn. 2. Compare with this how in Book XVIII we find Kwang-dze singing by the dead body of his wife.} {fn. 3. That man is man and not Heaven is simply from the limitation of his nature,--his 'appointed lot.'} {fn. 4. Tâo-ling might be translated 'Eagle Mount.' Where it was I do not know; perhaps the name originated with Kwang-dze, and thus has become semi-historical.} {p. 40} its eyes were large, an inch in circuit. It touched the forehead of Kâu as it passed him, and lighted in a grove of chestnut trees. 'What bird is this?' said he, 'with such great wings not to go on! and with such large eyes not to see me!' He lifted up his skirts, and hurried with his cross-bow, waiting for (an opportunity to shoot) it. (Meanwhile) he saw a cicada, which had just alighted in a beautiful shady spot, and forgot its (care for its) body. (just then), a preying mantis raised its feelers, and pounced on the cicada, in its eagerness for its prey, (also) forgetting (its care for) its body; while the strange bird took advantage of its opportunity to secure them both, in view of that gain forgetting its true (instinct of preservation){fr. 1}. Kwang Kâu with an emotion of pity, said, 'Ah! so it is that things bring evil on one another, each of these creatures invited its own calamity.' (With this) he put away his cross-bow, and was hurrying away back, when the forester pursued him with terms of reproach.